The views expressed are that of the panelists and do not in any way reflect those of Hasbro, Studio B Productions, The Hub - employees and management. The panelists themselves are fans and claim no expert knowledge on the source material.

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Welcome to Bronyville! This is Episode 52 recorded on April 22, 2012. I am your host Apple Cider

Intros

Favorite Character

Apple Cider - Twilight Sparkle

Chef Sandy - Rainbow Dash

Favorite Episode

Apple Cider - Luna Eclipsed

Chef Sandy - Read It and Weep

Why do you love the show?

Apple Cider - Finding the way to make something happy without having it be dumb.

Chef Sandy - I’m a lifetime fan of animation and Disney so MLP hits a lot of points right in the nostalgia. The music is awesome. Also, cute horses doing cute things.

This is Dennis Daniel from The Dennis Daniel Show. I just heard you mention me in your podcast (Thank you btw!) and well, Hasbro didn't really have anything to do with Cathy being delayed. See, what happened was she thought she was doing the interview at 1:30PM her time (she's in Canada), when we said we could do it at 1:30PM EST (our time), so it ended up being at 1:30 her time, which was 4:30 PM our time. So there's no Hasbro conspiracy, and I just wanted to clear it up. BTW, you guys are doing a great job, and if you would have me, I'd love to be a guest on one of your future episodes to talk about what my show does Brony wise.

Keep up the good work,

Dennis Daniel

The Dennis Daniel Show

PSA Time

One of the great things about the bronies is that from the onset we have a creed - love and tolerance. We can not make everyone happy and in many ways we disagree. And that's fine - it's in our nature to be different people who disagree about various things. It's not a unique motto as every fandom wants to be to be polite to each other and those we meet.

In my short time within this fandom, I have met a wider swath of humanity then I had ever had before. Bronies of every nationality, every race, lifestyle, and belief. I have met the trucker who listens to pony music as he drives across the nation. I've met transgendered, gay, lesbian, and transitioning and I consider them all my friends. We are such a fantastic group of people and we manage this by not being our worst enemy. I've seen it happen and it's going to happen. There is no avoiding some of the words which will be used against us. but we can control the language we use upon each other. Remember that at the end of the day - it's a show about horses. Silly, colorful horses. Is this really a reason to hold grudges? To go after and lambast members of the community for who they are and what they believe? I won't stand by the notion that members of our community seek to harm one another and I will aid a friend in need before I will throw the stone.

The next concept is a little harder to put into words and it's harder to really define when someone begins to turn our own caring against us. This is sometimes a very, very hard line to actually draw because we all like to believe that we are dealing with truthful people. But it happens there are manipulative people who will use these powers against us and you must understand that there is power in saying no and standing up for yourself. Your voice and your feelings matter. We preach a message of 'love and tolerance' but we can not be blind to those who would use our own compassion against us. I have the displeasure to say that I've seen this personally within our own fandom. It is like Fluttershy - we can be caring and understanding but we need not allow ourselves to be doormats.

In the end, we are the masters of our destiny. We can all manage how we are perceived and use those blocks to build our legacy.

I have to say, I was pretty pleased with how season 2 wrapped up, but there is one particular part of the wedding finale that got me thinking. As one of the few fans who has Celestia on the top of his pony ranking, I was very excited to see her spring into action to strike down the Changeling Queen, only to be supremely disappointed to see her defeated in very short time. Yes yes, Chrysalis was supercharged after leeching off of Shining Armor and Cadance for so long, but still. What I'm getting at here is that for two seasons now, Celestia hasn't really done much, and the first time we see her actually take a threat on herself it ends with her looking bad. Yet she has done many things off screen that we've only been told about. Will we ever get to see Celestia flaunt the power that let her defeat Discord and Nightmare Moon? I understand that as a plot device she needs to lose so that the other characters can "believe in themselves" and save the day, but after both Discord's return and now the Changelings, it's getting a bit ridiculous.

I admit that my feelings may be a bit biased, seeing as how "Celestia is best pony!" for me. I'll also admit that fanon is mainly to blame for that. Fanfics like "Sunny Skies All Day Long" and "Celestia's Teeth" give me more of the benevolent yet mischievous monarch that we only see bits and pieces of in the show proper (and screw that "Tyrant Celestia" nonsense. She's much more endearing and believable as the prankster she's made out to be by a large group of fans and hinted at in the episodes). Fanon has indeed been kind to her, but the source material is relatively sparse and, dare I say "unfair", considering she's such an important character. Do you think Celestia will continue to remain in the background and take the fall against the villain-of-the-day so that the other ponies can pull through with their own power? Or will she actually live up to her past exploits on screen at some point?

I realize some of what I said can also be applied to Luna, but that's a topic for another time. Seriously though, I expected a lot more from her during the season finale. It's like the writers were like "They want more Luna? Let's put her in the season 2 finale and have her do ALMOST NOTHING!" But like I said, that's best put aside for later.

Keep up the great work!

StormWatcher

PS (you don't have to read this part on the show if you don't want to, but I would greatly appreciate a response regardless).

An idea for a fanfic hit me the other day. One of the changelings who was sent flying by the uber forcefield crashes into Lyra and Bon Bon's house, leaving Bon Bon to take care of him (because she has no idea who or what he is) before Lyra gets back from Canterlot. The changeling in question is really shaken up after what happened (and didn't really have his heart in the whole "take over Equestria" plot anyway), so he tries to adjust to a simple life in Ponyville after Bon Bon is so nice to him. Of course Lyra gets back at some point and things start getting... difficult. Cue lots of "I'm not the type of guy you think I am" and such, mixed with prejudice, fear, and shapeshifting hijinks.

The reason I wanted to bounce this idea off of someone is that the more I thought about it, the more it started to sound like "Past Sins", what with the whole strange-individual-who-winds-

up-in-Ponyville-from-out-of-nowhere-with-a-dark-secret-and-the-potential-to-cause-a-lot-of-undue-panic and the like. If I do go through with this and end up submitting it to Equestria Daily and FimFiction and such, do you think the similarities to arguably the most well respected and popular fanfic will reflect negatively on my first public story? Or am I just worrying too much? Any feedback would be fantastic!

Dear Apple Cider, Chef Sandy and esteemed guests.

Twilight/Rarity are best pony while Rainbow Dash is my least favourite mane 6 pony. Sorry Chef, but I had to choose, and Fluttershy has just been too awesome in season 2 to put last.

I have listened to your show virtually since it first started (wow look at how far you have all come :D) but have never felt the urge to email in. However I wanted to send a personal thanks to you both and Midnight shadow for introducing me to one of my favourite new pastimes. My Little Pony Fanfiction.

When I joined the fandom (Which in itself was an entirley new thing to me) my knowledge of fanfiction as a whole was based on bad sterotypes and generelisations from other fandoms and had no intention of ever reading fanfiction. The only fic I had ever read up until last October was the ever infamous "Cupcakes". Although I only read that to find out why half the internet was mourning the lost innocence of Pinkie Pie.

But you did it didnt you. Over the months you slowly cracked me and soon I had to start reading it.Its sooooo good!Right now I have most of the good fics (including the ones you guys recomended) on my Kindle ready to read at any time so I will definatly get my pony fix throughout the dry season this time round. At the time of writing this I have only read around 20 fics or so. (2 were very long) but I can safely say that my favourite short fic has to be 'Sunny Skies All Day Long'.

Anyway now for a question. I think we all know that John de Lancie has said he has done some voice work for Season 3. Obviously we all would love to think Discord is making a return. But how would you guys want him coming back? A Mane 6 vs Discord episode again or a flashback of the period where Discord ruled equestia before he got defeated by Celestia and Luna? Or maybe something new?

I've enjoyed what you do, and appreciate the atmosphere of general cheeriness that you foster throughout the show. Congrats on your show anniversary too.

I'm writing this after listening to episode 51, and your discussion of the season two finale. I was kind of surprised that you didn't even slightly mention one of the biggest revelations in the show, that happened midway through episode 26. Celestia. Got. Punked. Out. The beloved and benevolent ruler of Equestria, and a being who is (arguably) a goddess capable of rasing the sun (and at one time the moon, as well) got powned by an insectoid bog dwelling nightmare fuel.

I know the show explained it as “Queen trumps Princess” using a death ray that was fueled by the power of love (one of the most powerful forces in the universe, according to the bedtime story books), but doesn't this kind of upset anypony else besides me? It may be that the Evil Queen is some sort horrible dark goddess who's power parallels the rulers of the other kingdoms. It may be that Shining Armor's abilities are very much like Twilight's, in that both unicorns are very gifted in what they do, and thus his love for his bride is super powered also, and it was able to provide super fuel for the forces of evil. However, something tells me that this may have just been lazy writing. The writers knew they would have to get Celestia out of the way, and didn't want to take time to invent any other reason other than direct physical conflict, something that the show has shied away from in almost all other episodes (baring site gags).

I wanted to hear your thoughts on this, since it wasn't mentioned in episode 51. I realize that perhaps I am being overly silly about the whole thing, but it's not like I'm nerd-raging over an obscure bit of head fanon that goes against my own OC fan fiction. This was an established character who was supposed to be able to hold massive cosmic powers as portrayed by the original creator of the series, and she was just sucker punched by the monster of the week (all be it a pretty cool monster of the week). I can't help think that if Faust was still on staff, we would have seen something a bit different. Maybe Celestia would have still been neutralized, but not in such a clumsy clunky way.

I adore the podcast and have been listening since I became a brony, sometime at the beginning of season 2. But now that season 2 is over, I am wondering what the fandom is going to do to hold out until season 3. I heard that between seasons 1 and 2, the community created a ton of content to keep the fire alive. I'm hoping that same enthusiasm returns in full force!

I'm ready to contribute to the content pool, but the fandom is vast and a little overwhelming, not to mention setting a precedent of high quality material. I was wondering if there were any bronies in leadership roles, and if not leaders per se, are there are other similar community resources for us foals of the fandom?

Thanks in advance if this gets answered, and keep up the fantastic work!

Your faithful listener,

metroponytan

PS. Best pony? While I love any one of the Mane 6 for many reasons, I can't help but feel that the title of Best Pony belongs to our Helen of Troy, the mare that launched over 9000 ships in a veritable brony civil war; she is our medium to our deities Studio B / DHX / Lauren Faust; she is the very symbol of the fandom. I must pledge allegiance to one miss Derpy Hooves.

Dear AC CS Guests SN Blah blah formalitys.

To start, I have a simple question. Why is it that recently the notes for the podcast on iTunes have been the same (Talking about the quest saying Stary Night is super special, and most specifically the song at the end.) Just pointing it out.

Now on to my real question. Now that Season 2 is over and we trot into the desert that is the Episodeless Summer and Season 3 coming this Fall, how long do you expect FiM to go on? After the show ends (as in episodes are no longer made) how do you think the fandom will fare? Will it quickly shrivel up, die out, and be forgotten, will it strive maybe one more year or so still making Fanfic and fan mad content before slowly disappearing, or will it keep going as it is now?

Sorry for a long email

Super Silly Pinkie Pie Loving

Doctor Rainbow Dash (Alex)

Hello!

My name is Jonathan and I've been listening to your show since episode 2 or 3 came out and first of all I'd like to thank your for an awesome show! It has kept me entertained for probably over 100 hours whilst doing everything from playing games to freezing my behind off in woods. You have kept a constant level of excellence and brought on very interesting guests. To keep it short, love the show and keep up the good work!

However, I do feel the need to complain a little bit (but please don't think I'm being mean or anything like that) namely; AC, I feel like you tend to put Rainbow Dash down. Having a favorite pony is fine, but saying that someone is best all the time isn't really necessary. Honestly, it's getting a bit silly with all the rankings (that everyone does) because it dosn't make your favorite pony any better. Critique is fine, as long as it's not mean spirited, remember to love and tolerate! And Chef, you need to stand up for your favorite pony a little bit more! Don't let anyone put your girl down!

Other than that thanks again for the show, many thanks from a Swedish brony marine leutenant

Whoo hoo! Oh wait, does this mean after this I actually have to STOP celebrating? but I was having such fun with the punch and the balloons and the streamers! Oh well, two week old ice cream cake is not too fun. Ohh! But we had our best guest ever on this week! All of them! Or we brought back a bunch of our champions as well as we had our listeners call in and chat about My Little Pony! It was an awesome time!